John d



J. D. COMPTON.

BRAKE OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1918.

1,307,484 Patented June 24, 1919.

1% I 2 P I [if .ii i3" a I 11 T +3 v (2C9; kwpiazz r D I P UNITED Y STATES PATENT-or fice JOHN D. common, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, JiNbIAlhfA.

BRAKE-OPERATING MEcHAiiIsri;

To (/71 whom if may concern; v

.' Be it known that I, Jonx D. Cmie'rox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis. in the'county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Brake-()perating -i\'iechanism, of which the following is a specification.

The subject of the present invention 1s a. brake operating mechanism intended, pri

marily, for use on freight cars, though ap-- The invention also'. contemplates the provision of a brake operating mechanisu'r which may be applied to the present and usual equipment of a car.

A still further object of the invention is to generally improve the construction and enhance the utility of brake operating mech anism.

With the brake operating mechanism at present in general use on freight cars, it'- the brake is set by air, or by one stronger than the hrakeman who attempts to release the brake, either the brakeman can not release the brake without breaking the. dog, or he runs the risk of being thrown from the car or' otherwise injured by the sudden spinning of the hand wheel when the dog is released. It is to overcome these difficulties that the present invention isdevised.

With the foregoing and-other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in .the combination and-arr mgcment. of parts and in the, details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood thatchanges 1n the preclse embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without Specification of Letters am. Pa fOIIfOd June 24, 1919. A

Application filed April 23. 1918. SerialNo, 230.345.

tailvviewof the operatinginechanismi the now being in front elevation with a portion in section;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3 3 OfFlgQ.

Referring to the drawing by -numeralsof reference z- I v A boxcar onfreight car is showtratfl.

and projecting from the end of the car, to the top of which it is attached in any suit.-

able manner, is a loop-Qwhieh acts as asupport for t.he 1 upper end 'of tlienrod The-.1001) loosely encircles the'rod 3 for the purpose of ,al.lowi1 ig the rodfsutlicient; play;

The hand: wheel skis rigid on the upperend l of the rod 3 and may/be manually.rotat'ed The. carisfornied'with the'lusual end sill 5 from which depends an ordinary support lng yfikt (ii whiclryoli e "is attached to the sill by means of. bolts Tor in anyothersuitable manner. A pin or shaft 8 IS jolll'naled 'in apertures formedm the sidebars of the in verted supporting yoke 6, andupon this shat't, \v'ithinthe yoke, is mo'unteda' drum 5) which is clamped to the shaft torotate therewith by means ofna set -screwa10 or' otherwise. The drum is.providedwith a hook 11, or other attaching means, by which i adapted to en'gagewith a similar clutch element 14, formed on the hub of a worm wheel 15 which is loosely mounted on the shaft 8 and which is constrained to rotate with the shaft. by reason of the engagement of the clutch elements. The object in making the drum-and the worm gear separate elen'lents is to permit. easy replacement of .parts should one or the other become. hroken.

A worn 16 is mounted on the shaft 3 to which it is secured by a pin 17 or otherwise, and this worm mesheswith the worm wheel 15 under normal conditions. As will he understood, the object of the worm is to rotate the worm wheel and drum through rotation of the rod 3, and thereby cause-operation of the brake; i

Secured to the cross bar of the supports ing yoke 6, by means of bolts 18 or otherwise, is a bracket 19, fQl'll'lGCl at its outer end with spaced upstanding supporting inembei 's 20. A slot 2,] is formed in the arm 19 beside the slot 21. The reduced end 3 i may be a'pertured to receive a pin 22 which is positioned below the bracket arm 1 and serves to hold the rod .3 against upward movement.

.The spaced inenihei-s of the bracket arm 19 are"ap'ertured to receivea pin 23 upon which is fulcrumed a lever, one arm of which, indicated by the numeral 2-1, is weighted to hold that arm normally in lowcred position, while the other arm, 25, which is normally held in elevated position by the weighted arm 24, is broadened and curved and has a cam slot :26 formedtherein. The.

rod 3 passes through this slot 26 and the slot is so formed that, when the lever is in normal position, the lower end of the rod 3 is thrown to-the inner end of the slot and, consequently, the worm 16 is held in mesh with the worm'wheel 15. By lifting.

the lever ai'ni' fZ-l, the lower end of the rod 3 will be thrown to the-outer end of the slot 21 and the worm and worm wheel .-'thi'own out of gear ormeshQ As will be i'inderstood, throwing these gears out of mesh will re; lease the brakes.

. The lever is so )orted transversely of the i car so that jolt-ing of the car will not have any other etl'eet thereon than to keep it in its normal position. It isalso easier for the lever arm 2- to be reached from the side of the -ar without entering between the cars, which is often dangerous when releasing brakes.

From a considerationof Fig. 3 it will be scent-hat, when the rod 3 is rotated to set the brakes, theslope of the slot 26 is such that the tendency of thcrleyer will be to remain iii'fiorm-al position :i*thej frictional contact between the side of the slot and the rod during such rotation of the rod, tends to raise the arm of the. lever.

H'aviiig thus described the invention, What is claimed as new and sought by Letters Pateat, is

1. The combination with a carstructure and a yoke fixedly connected to one end thereof and depending therefron'i, of a shaft .journaled inthe yoke, aiwinding drum thereon, a worm wheel secured to the shaft, a

manually operated shaft mounted onthe car structure and having its lower end mounted for sliding movement within the yoke, a worm .upon said shaft, a lever fulcrumed in the yoke and having a cam slot through which the shaft extends, said lever being provided with a weighted end for holding the cam slot normally positioned to maintain the worm in engagement with the wheel.

2. The combination with a car structure and a yoke fixedly connected to one end thereof and depending therefrom, said yoke having a slot therein, of a shaft jouriialed in the yoke, a winding drum secured thereto, a worm wheel secured to said shaft, a brake applying element connected to and adapted to wind upon the drum, a manually operated .shaft'mounted on the car structure and having a reduced lowerend mounted forslidingnioveinent within the slot in the yoke,'a lever fulcrumed in the yoke and having a cam slot in one end through which the manually operated shaft. extends, and a weight atthe' other end of the lever for maintaining said slot normally positioned to hold the manually opera ed shaft at one end of its slot, and a W011i! upon said shaft and normally meshing with the wheel, said shaft being shiftable in its slot by the actuation of the lever to disengage the worm from the wheel.

I In testimony that-l claim the foregoing as my own,-l have hereto allixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN D. COMPTON. lVitnesses by E. SIMPSON, lVM. N. ROACII, Jr. 

